[gothic-l] Ottar Grønvik on Crimean Gothic

[llama_nom]

Hello all,

Here is my attempt to summarise a paper by Ottar Grønvik on Crimean 
Gothic.  Hope I haven't garbled anything or inadvertantly 
misrepresented any of Grønvik's ideas.  I've only commented on a 
couple of points, as I found I just don't know enough yet about the 
very early development of Germanic to make up my own mind on the 
overall argument that Crimean Gothic is a West Germanic dialect that 
separated from the WG continuum at some time before c. 200 AD and 
after that underwent sound changes in common with the language that 
evolved into Biblical Gothic.  For phonetic spellings I've used the 
SAMPA notation:

http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/sampa/home.htm

Otherwise I've followed the spellings in the article.

Llama Nom



Ottar Grønvik: "Die dialektgeographische Stelling des Krimgotischen 
und die krimgotische cantilena."

Features of Crimean Gothic:

1) No i/j mutation (thus agreeing with Gothic against NWG).
2) z > s finally, as in Gothic (*schnos v. OE snoru, ON snør)-- good 
evidence for treatment of Gmc. /z/, as Busbecq apparently didn't 
recognise the word as Germanic.
3) u & i preserved before nasal + cons., or before high vowel in 
following syllable (gira < *giri), otherwise lowered in same 
circumstances as in NWG (boga, *schnos v. *thuru; schwester v. 
wintch).
4) Raising of e > i before u/w irregular (seuene, fyder), but so too 
in other dialects.
5) ð > d, as in WG, and subsequently devoiced (plut).  Initially and 
in voiced medial positions þ > d.  But þ > þ, spelt <tz>, finally 
and medially in voiceless environment.  Due to frequent occurrence 
as enclitic in such positions, the pronoun tzo `thou' retained the 
sound.
6) Unstressed vowels > @ (schwa), represented by random vowel 
letters, except for Old Crimean Gothic o:n > u:, spelt <ou> 
(kadariou = /kad at rju:/ < *ka(n)dario:n < Lat. centurio:n-).
7) /n/ lost after long vowel (kadariou), but kept after short (verb 
inf. ending -en).
8) i: > i:     u: > u:     e: > i:     o: > u:     eu > i:     iu > 
i:, y:?     ai > e:     au > o:
9) initial /h/ lost.

(Thinks: Point (3) assumes that a-umlaut etc. was a NWG innovation.  
Question, can we tell whether Gothic was unaffected by this change, 
or just lost the distinction between these sounds at a later date?  
Grønvik doesn't bring into the discussion the letter names from the 
Vienna-Salzburg codex: chozma, geuua, enguz.)

Regarding /i:/ from Gmc. e:1, Grønvik says 4.4.2.3.1. that /e:/ 
> /a:/ very early in NG but not among the West Germanic people of 
the Elbe region till the end of the 2nd century AD.  Later still 
among the Franks in the vicinity of the Rhine.  Regarding ð > d, 
Grønvik says 4.4.2.3.2 that this a common WG development, ? 2nd c. 
or earlier.  Regarding rhoticism of Gmc /z/, Grønvik says 4.4.2.3.4 
that WG probably retained /z/ before 200.  The final devoicing he 
sees as a Migration Era sound change shared by Crimean and Biblical 
Gothic.  Similarly with the monophthongisation of /ai/ and /au/.

(The full reasoning behind these assumptions is not explained, but I 
gather there are some Latin inscriptions to West Germanic goddesses 
(`Matrons') which preserve a Germanic dative plural ending: Aflims, 
Vatvims, Saitchamimi(s).)

10) warthata = /wartt at te/ < warhta + preterite ending repeated by 
analogy.
11) /al:/ lapis = ON hallr, OE heall, rather than Got. hallus.
12) thurn = *thuru = /dur@/, old dual form cognate with OE, OS duru, 
rather than Got. daur, daurons.
_______________________________________________________


Sequence of changes acc. Grønvik:

1. NWG
               u > u / o 
               e > e / i

2. WG to 200
                æ: > e:
                d, ð > d
                z > z
                lþ > lþ
                þ > þ, ð
                e – u/w > i
                xj > xxj
                ngw > ng

3. Pre-Gothic
                jj > ddj
Reduction of unstressed vowels
Devoicing of final fricatives
Monophthongisation of ai, au > E:, O:
rB > rb (dorbiza)
No i-umlaut

4. Old Crimean Gothic + Gothic 350 – 550
                   iu > y:
                   eu > e:
                   e:, o: > i:, u:
                   E:, O: > e:, o:
 Further reduction of unstressed vowels
                    (þ >) [ð], [d]
                    xt, xs > tt, ss
                    sk > sch
                    sw, sl, sn > schw, schl, schn
                    b, d, g devoiced initially
                    h-, -h- > Ø


The song!  He reconstructs/interprets thus, explaining his reasoning 
in full detail.  I've written it out in SAMPA phonetic notation 
after.

wara wara ing[a]dolou
scu te gira galtzou
heemisclep dorbize ea

war@ war@ in-gad at lu: (in-gad at lu)
Su: t@ gir@ galtTu: (galTu:)
he:m at SlE:pp dorb at z@ E@

Guard (watch over / look after / protect) the very beautiful one.
You gave (paid) desirable shoes.
Let the hungry horse out graze at home.

The 1st & 3rd lines are taken to be commands/requests.

scu = *schu `set of [horse] shoes' < gaskohi `pair of shoes' (as in 
Biblical Gothic, but not specifically EG).

*schlep `let loose to graze' he suggests is a loan from ON sleppa 
(while also considering a possible WG etymology).  Following Norse 
grammar he takes <dorbize> as a dative f. sg. adjective, pointing 
out that the pronominal-style ending agrees with WG rather than 
Biblical Gothic.  He also considers (as less likely) the possibility 
that this is a comparative.

<te> is interpreted as WG, although acc. G's phonology it could 
equally apply be from a Gothic-like /du/.

The situation of the song is compared to the opening lines of 
Norwegian heroic ballads.  As a less likely possibility he suggests 
a children's rhyme.





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